man-pages/man5/filesystems.5

.\" Copyright 1996 Daniel Quinlan (Daniel.Quinlan@linux.org)
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.TH FILESYSTEMS 5 2001-12-07 "Linux" "Linux Programmer's Manual"
.nh
.SH NAME
filesystems \- Linux filesystem types: minix, ext, ext2, ext3, xia, msdos,
umsdos, vfat, proc, nfs, iso9660, hpfs, sysv, smb, ncpfs
.SH DESCRIPTION
When, as is customary, the
.B proc
filesystem is mounted on
.IR /proc ,
you can find in the file
.I /proc/filesystems
which filesystems your kernel currently supports.
If you need a currently unsupported one, insert the corresponding
module or recompile the kernel.

In order to use a filesystem, you have to
.I mount
it, see
.BR mount (8)
for the mount command, and for the available mount options.

Below a short description of a few of the available filesystems.
.TP
.B "minix"
is the filesystem used in the Minix operating system, the first to run
under Linux.
It has a number of shortcomings: a 64MB partition size
limit, short filenames, a single time stamp, etc.
It remains useful for floppies and RAM disks.
.TP
.B ext
is an elaborate extension of the
.B minix
filesystem.
It has been completely superseded by the second version
of the extended filesystem
.RB ( ext2 )
and has been removed from the kernel (in 2.1.21).
.TP
.B ext2
is the high performance disk filesystem used by Linux for fixed disks
as well as removable media.
The second extended filesystem was designed as an extension of the
extended file system
.RB ( ext ).
.B ext2
offers the best performance (in terms of speed and CPU usage) of
the filesystems supported under Linux.
.TP
.B ext3
is a journaling version of the ext2 filesystem.
It is easy to
switch back and forth between ext2 and ext3.
.TP
.B xiafs
was designed and implemented to be a stable, safe filesystem by
extending the Minix filesystem code.
It provides the basic most
requested features without undue complexity.
The
.B xia
filesystem is no longer actively developed or maintained.
It was removed from the kernel in 2.1.21.
.TP
.B msdos
is the filesystem used by DOS, Windows, and some OS/2 computers.
.B msdos
filenames can be no longer than 8 characters, followed by an
optional period and 3 character extension.
.TP
.B umsdos
is an extended DOS filesystem used by Linux.
It adds capability for
long filenames, UID/GID, POSIX permissions, and special files
(devices, named pipes, etc.)  under the DOS filesystem, without
sacrificing compatibility with DOS.
.TP
.B vfat
is an extended DOS filesystem used by Microsoft Windows95 and Windows NT.
VFAT adds the capability to use long filenames under the MSDOS filesystem.
.TP
.B proc
is a pseudo-filesystem which is used as an interface to kernel data
structures rather than reading and interpreting
.IR /dev/kmem .
In particular, its files do not take disk space.
See
.BR proc (5).
.TP
.B iso9660
is a CD-ROM filesystem type conforming to the ISO 9660 standard.
.RS
.TP
.B "High Sierra"
Linux supports High Sierra, the precursor to the ISO 9660 standard for
CD-ROM filesystems.
It is automatically recognized within the
.B iso9660
filesystem support under Linux.
.TP
.B "Rock Ridge"
Linux also supports the System Use Sharing Protocol records specified
by the Rock Ridge Interchange Protocol.
They are used to further describe the files in the
.B iso9660
filesystem to a UNIX host, and provide information such as long
filenames, UID/GID, POSIX permissions, and devices.
It is automatically recognized within the
.B iso9660
filesystem support under Linux.
.RE
.TP
.B hpfs
is the High Performance Filesystem, used in OS/2.
This filesystem is
read-only under Linux due to the lack of available documentation.
.TP
.B sysv
is an implementation of the SystemV/Coherent filesystem for Linux.
It implements all of Xenix FS, SystemV/386 FS, and Coherent FS.
.TP
.B nfs
is the network filesystem used to access disks located on remote computers.
.TP
.B smb
is a network filesystem that supports the SMB protocol, used by
Windows for Workgroups, Windows NT, and Lan Manager.
.sp
To use
.B smb
fs, you need a special mount program, which can be found in the ksmbfs
package, found at
.IR ftp://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/Linux/system/Filesystems/smbfs .
.TP
.B ncpfs
is a network filesystem that supports the NCP protocol, used by
Novell NetWare.
.sp
To use
.BR ncpfs ,
you need special programs, which can be found at
.IR ftp://linux01.gwdg.de/pub/ncpfs .
.SH "SEE ALSO"
.BR proc (5),
.BR fsck (8),
.BR mkfs (8),
.BR mount (8)